Dynamo May Go Uptown For A New Stadium

KTRK's Miya Shay reported an interesting development in the never-ending quest to build a stadium for the Houston Dynamo -- the team is considering an offer to build it near the Galleria, instead of the east side of downtown.

The idea surfaced at yesterday's Commissioner Court meeting, and Dynamo president Oliver Luck says the team has been in discussions with the developer who owns the property south of 59, outside the Loop near Westpark.

We've got a call in to Luck, but the whole question of a Dynamo stadium still is far from settled, according to County Judge Ed Emmett's office.

The team is offering to put in $60 million towards the east-side stadium; the city and county must pitch in $10 million apiece. Former mayor Bill White agreed to do so, but Joe Stinebaker of Emmett's office tells Hair Balls the county isn't rushing to follow.

Says Stinebaker:

There is nothing actively under consideration by Commissioners Court at this point or even on the near horizon. Now that the city has a new mayor, I think the issue will likely be run through her office before it's brought over here.

Based on what I've heard from El Franco Lee -- whose precinct it would be in -- he sees it as a city issue at this point. Now, Steve Radack did say yesterday that he's seen plans and renderings for a new stadium proposal to put the stadium on the west side, near the Galleria and the Westpark Tollway, but I don't know that the team has had any involvement with that or that anybody has expressed any interest to be over there.

Luck did tell KTRK he'd be interested in listening to the Galleria-area developer, but it all still sounds pretty vague.

New mayor Annise Parker campaigned on a skepticism towards stadium deals, so the whole thing may be farther away from reality than it's ever been.

Update: Luck tells Hair Balls the Galleria-area site is the most interesting alternative he's heard of, but there remains a whole bunch of research needed on issues such as financing, parking and access.

The developer, Midway Companies, approached the team in October or November of last year, he said.

"I told the city way back in the White administration -- I said 'I know I'm going to get other proposals, and I have to look at them to see if they're serious,'" he says. "I can't say no until we actually put a shovel in the ground on the east end."